Premanufactured buildings, such as mobile homes, trailers, prefabricated houses, and the like are manufactured at a central manufacturing site. Upon completion, the buildings are moved to a location where they are to be occupied. Because these buildings are designed to be easily moved from one site to another, they are not built on permanent foundations but, rather, typically are placed on piers such as concrete blocks, pilings, or stabilizing jacks. If the home is not anchored securely in position, it can be shifted from its position on the blocks or jacks by strong winds. This can cause not only serious damage to the building structure itself but may also cause human injury. Another potential danger is the breakage of gas pipes and subsequent ignition of the escaping gas.
Various types of stabilizing devices have been used to secure premanufactured buildings to keep them from shifting in response to wind forces. Exemplary of such systems are tie down systems that use guy wires or retaining bands and ground anchors to secure the building in place on the piers.
Due to the importance of using the most effective means for building stabilization, and due to the need of meeting the minimum performance standards established by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, performance testing has been conducted on various stabilization systems. Until now, this testing has primarily consisted of the testing of the individual components of each particular tie down system. For instance, ground anchors have been tested by measuring the amount of force required to move the anchor a certain distance in the ground. From this data, the effectiveness of the anchor in actual use can be estimated. Similarly, tensile testing of the guy wires and bands has been conducted. However, there have been no testing systems that allow the user to accurately simulate the effects of a wind load on the entire stabilization system at the same time.
Thus, it can be appreciated that it would be desirable to have testing apparatus that tests the entire tie down system by accurately simulating the effects of wind forces on a premanufactured building.